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Success Story: Mike Levin for U.S. Congress

Overview

Democratic challenger in a California swing district establishes a strong digital identity, stands up a modern website and social media presence, and gets his 2018 campaign off to a fast start -- at no charge, thanks to help from Tech for Campaigns volunteers.

Background

California's 49th district went to Hillary Clinton by a 6% margin in 2016, but Republican incumbent Darrell Issa narrowly held off a Democratic challenger to retain control of the district's U.S. congressional seat. With the district clearly in play for 2018, environmental lawyer and clean tech executive Mike Levin wasted no time in stepping up to run.

Levin was fired up to get his campaign off the ground in early 2017. But he didn't want to announce his candidacy without first setting up a full-featured website and social media presence to capture interest and momentum; and since he couldn't start fundraising pre-announcement, he wasn't sure how he was going to come up with $10K+ to spend on professional web development and social strategy consulting. The only feasible option seemed to be a below-the-radar announcement, followed by fundraising, followed by a digital emergence months down the line. Not ideal.

The Team

Tech for Campaigns deployed four talented pros to help the Levin campaign develop a unique, polished digital identity at zero charge. Our very first project was staffed by:

Social Media Strategy: Kristy Ellington, Head of Social and Content, CreativeLive

The Project

The Tech for Campaigns team worked with the Levin campaign to identify their most urgent needs, and agreed on top priorities for an initial 4-week project:

A digital identity kit, including a logo, style guides, and collateral templates

A website with digital fundraising features, email capture, an events calendar, and a blog

Verified social profiles and a framework for targeted social media advertising

The Results

In just 4 weeks, the team set the Levin campaign up for strong digital kickoff. The team delivered:

A beautiful, modern digital identity kit for use across multiple channels:

A modern, mobile-optimized website that includes a blog, events calendar, and donation capture:

On-brand, verified Twitter and Facebook presences, and a social media targeting framework:

Levin was able to launch his campaign with a bang, build awareness quickly, and get his fundraising off to a strong start; Tech for Campaigns' involvement was also featured in a front-page story in the San Francisco Chronicle. TFC is keeping in touch and will be on the lookout for additional ways to help out in the months leading up to election day.

“We have all of this creative and digital talent on our side. TFC gives us a way to focus our efforts where they will do the most good.”